One More for the Road
by Gr8BigNerd
Summary: This story is a Cheers oneshot that takes place at the end of the series right after the last scene of the finale. I was never happy with the way they left Sam and Diane so I decided to finish it.


Author's Note: This story is a oneshot that takes place at the end of the series right after the final scene of the finale. I have been rewatching all of the reruns of the years Diane was on the show and it was never the same for me after she left. To me this in one of the greatest love stories ever, and the very first One True Pair on TV; shows and characters like House and Cuddy (my other ship) owe so much to them. I was very disappointed with the way they left Sam and Diane, so I decided to finish it. Reviews are always appreciated.

**One More for the Road**

Sam closed the door to his office and dropped down into his chair. He ran a hand over his face and tipped his head back. He thought about what Norm had said about being faithful to his true love. _Cheers_. He imagined Diane on the plane headed back to California. She'd be asleep by now. Probably drooling a little bit on the scratchy blue airplane blanket. His heart hurt. He wanted to feel good about the choice they made not to run off together, but it all seemed to happen so fast that right now he couldn't even remember why they didn't.

An obnoxious pounding at the door shook Sam and he rolled his eyes. "We're closed," he whispered to himself. He waited, hoping the drunk would just give up and go away, but when he didn't Sam cursed under his breath and jumped out of his chair. He swung open the door to the office and stomped up to the door. "Look buddy, I said we were closed now don't make me—" Sam stopped in his tracks as he swung the door open and saw her standing in front of him.

"Sam—" Sam grabbed her hand and pulled her into the bar. He backed her against the door and kissed her. Diane laughed against his lips and even squeaked a little when his hands moved down over her rear and squeezed roughly. "Sam…"

"What the hell are you doing here?" he said. He didn't let go of her but leaned back to look at her face. "You…did you change your mind?"

Diane smiled and touched his lips. "Have you changed you mind?" Sam threw his hands up and turned away from her.

"Come on don't do this, don't turn this into a riddle." He walked into the office and she followed him.

"This isn't a riddle Sam. I left because I was afraid things were moving too fast. We got swept up like we always do and we jumped without thinking. I…I was afraid you didn't really love me anymore, that you were just running off with me because you didn't have anything better at the moment."

"Yeah well…that's exactly what happened." Sam crossed his arms over his chest and stared her down. She looked up at him with a pained expression on her face, which was still flushed from his kiss only moments before. He'd hurt her again. "So, what then, you came back just to rub my nose in it?"

"No," she said. "I came back because I didn't want to spend the next six years wondering. I needed to know for sure."

"If I love you?"

"That's right."

Sam paced around the room. "Well, that's what you were doing wasn't it? Trying to pick up where we left off because you didn't know what else to do with yourself?" Diane leaned against the desk. She was trying not to get angry; in her heart she knew how he'd react to her showing up here, and she wanted to be able to say that at least for her part she was truthful with him.

"I honestly don't know. Six years ago I left to follow a dream and I found it, at least in part, but it's never been truly satisfying for me." She chanced a look up at Sam who was still pouting and kicking a box around the floor. "I realized that I haven't been really happy since the day I left here." He stopped.

"You mean that?" He was at her side now pushing a piece of hair off her shoulder. She smiled and nodded. "You've never gotten over me?"

Diane brushed him off. "Don't say it like that."

"Like what? That's what you meant."

"Don't pretend that it's a one-way street. I've been under your skin since the first time I walked into this place and you know it. You never got over me either." He scoffed at her, and nearly fed up, she started to walk away but he grabbed her hand. He looked up at the photographs and memorabilia tacked around his office and slipped his arm around Diane.

"Honey, I just had a thought. It's a little impulsive; I hope you can handle that."

"You had a thought? Perhaps I should give you a moment to rest," she snickered, but Sam's stony glare stopped her. "I'm kidding. As long at you're sincere I can handle any scheme you concoct." She smiled and leaned into him.

He pulled her out of the office and into the middle of the empty bar. Nervously he stepped in front of her and ran his hand over her small fingers. He looked up at the faded sepia toned photograph of Geronimo hanging on the wall. He took a deep breath. "Diane, I…" he swallowed hard and cleared his throat. "I wanna give you Cheers."

Diane narrowed her eyes at him and frowned. That wasn't exactly what she was expecting. "The bar?"

He smiled at her, "yeah."

"What would I want with this dump?"

Sam's eyes widened. He dropped her hand and spun around swinging his fist at the empty air in front of him and then turned back to her. "You know you almost had me for a minute there. I can't believe I was actually broken up about you leaving. I was thinking, how could I let her get away from me again like that? But I get it now."

Diane stared at him confused as if he's lost his mind. "You get it?"

"Yeah, that's right. I'm fine with letting you go; matter of fact it feels pretty good. It's you coming back that keeps screwing me up!"

Diane shook her head. "I see you haven't changed a bit."

"Obviously," he said leaning in to challenge her.

"You know, I've always been honest with you about my feelings and not only do you not want to hear it, but you absolutely refuse to meet me in the middle. And you wonder why I doubt your feelings for me and your desire to make a real commitment to me. Well thank you Sam; I came here looking for closure and you've masterfully lived down to my expectations!" She pushed past him and stomped toward the door, but as she reached the end of the bar she paused.

"Don't you dare!" He stormed over to her and stuck his finger out at her. "If you walk out on me again, don't you dare turn back around do you hear me?"

Diane took a deep breath and then slowly turned around. "I don't want to leave angry," she said. She gently pushed his finger away from her face and then shook her head. "Why can't you just tell me the truth?"

"You mean tell you what you want to hear?"

She opened her mouth to protest, but stopped. "I guess that is what I mean." Her eyes filled with tears which she quickly brushed away. "I've convinced myself that you loved me and that we just kept sabotaging ourselves. But the truth is I romanticized what, to you, was nothing more than an affair as meaningless as any other." She touched his face. "You tried to tell me that so many times and I didn't want to hear it. Now I finally do and I'm sorry."

Diane let her hand drop and turned to leave. Sam laughed, "You really are a dope you know that?" She didn't turn back but kept toward the door until he ran at her and grabbed her arm spinning her into his arms and kissing her. She dropped her purse to the ground and pushed her fingers into his hair. When he finally broke the kiss, she hesitated before pulling away.

"Forgive me if I'm getting mixed messages here—"

"I'm gonna tell you the truth, but I need you to promise to shut up and let me get it out okay?"

"Sam—"

"Promise," he snapped at her. She nodded slowly, and he pressed his hands together. "That's better." He stepped away from her and walked over to the bar, leaning against the railing. "Now, you weren't wrong when you said I never got you out of my system. But I always thought it was so dumb to think anything could ever really work with us so I tried everything to forget you. I dated other women," he smiled slightly. "A lot of other women—"

"Sam—" He held up his hand silencing her.

"But all that led me to was realizing I had a bit of a problem with women…kinda like I had with booze once upon a time. It wasn't so much fun when you look at it like that. And I thought, you know maybe I should just settle down and have a family. I even tried, you know, with Rebecca. I tried to have everything with her that at one time I wanted with you. But I knew that she could never be any more to me than a friend and I didn't want to have a family with a woman I didn't love."

Diane's eyes softened and she walked over to stand next to him against the bar. He didn't look over at her; he just stared at the front door. She placed her hand on his arm and he closed his eyes.

"I've only loved two things in my life, Diane. You and this bar." This time he did turn back to her. "If I give it to you, if I can take my two great loves and hog tie you together then I won't have to make a choice."

Diane smiled at his revelation, but something still pulled at her. "And what if I chose to sell the place and skip town?" She asked him.

Sam rolled his eyes at her, "You're nuts you know that. I'm pouring my heart out here and you just want to ruin it." He tried to pull away from her, but she held onto him.

"No I'm serious, Sam. What if I don't want the bar?"

He wasn't entirely sure how to answer that. The thought hadn't really crossed his mind that she wouldn't immediately jump into his arms and make love to him on the pool table or the couch in his office, or… "Okay, that's a fair question," he said. "It would kill me. But then at least you'd be making the choice not me, and I wouldn't have to keep wondering 'what if?'"

Diane squeezed his arm. "And if I decided to keep it?"

"Then, sweetheart, I'd marry you in a heartbeat and we'd set you up a little writing desk in the back and we'd run the place together. We'd make love and have kids, and a nice life right here. And if you ever change your mind and decide to divorce me, you'd at least have a little nest egg in this place."

Diane smiled, in part at the pretty picture he'd painted her of the life they could have, and in part at the absurdity of the notion that she would come this far and ever divorce him. "We'd have to keep you away from Carla, you know, because she'll kill you once she finds out you made me her new boss." They laughed together and Sam laced his fingers with hers. "That is the sweetest thing you have ever said to me Sam Malone…I really can hardly believe it."

"I'll call Tom in the morning to draw up the papers and we'll make it official. But tonight…" He leaned in to kiss her but she shook her head.

"Oh, Sam I'm not going to hold you to that. I'd never want to take this place away from you."

"Then don't," he said. "Take the bar and stay here with me. We have to do this, Diane. It's better than an engagement ring, and much more of a commitment I think." She laughed.

"I think you may be right." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "I am so in love with you," she said. "And, I will never leave you ever again." She rose up and kissed him, and he slipped his arms around her waist. "Let's go back to my hotel," she said.

Sam shook his head. "I have a better idea," he said and glanced over at the back room.

"You're kidding—"

He laughed, "Actually I was thinking we could go back to our place."

"_Our place?_ What are you talking about?" She leaned back and glared at him suspiciously.

"Our house, you know, the house we bought when we were gonna get married."

Her eyes lit up instantly, at the memory of it. "You still live there?"

He shook his head. "No, no I moved out after you left. It was too tough for me to stay there, but for some reason I could never bring myself to sell it. Guess I just had a hard time letting go, you know."

This time Diane, didn't fight her tears. "I'm glad you didn't," she said. "Take me home Sam."

And he did.


End file.
